Yoikes! Not as easy as I had hoped it would be

I imagined WordPress would be an easy way to create a Blog based on my initial investigation, but this definately is not that. Yet, I’m excited to learn how to mold this into what I want it to be. So, I’m a bottom of the rung beginner and know that there others of you must have been in my shoes. Any advice on how to deal with all of this and still get my blog up and running? One of the confusing parts is the “documentation” doesn’t seem to coincide with the version I’m on, so it’s a bit confusing.
Any comments of encouragement would be appreciated.

Thanks!